The stats spoke for themselves; going into Wednesday night’s game, the Rays were 9-1 when Chris Archer pitched six or more innings. And after being in the throes of a three-game losing streak, what better pitcher to throw on the mound than King Archer? Suffice to say, the presumed rookie of the year put together another outstanding outing, going seven strong innings and leading the Rays 4-1 win against the Angels.
In short, Archer has been on fire, going 6-2 in his last 10 starts, averaging 6-2/3 innings and 1-1/2 earned runs per start. He was just as predictably good Wednesday night, giving up only one run on five hits and no walks, while striking out five (three with an excellent slider). Archer got ahead of batters with his fastball, throwing it for strikes 73% of the time, then leaned on his put-away pitch — a deadly mid 80’s slider in which he was able to induce seven whiffs. In fact, Archer was — for all intents and purposes — a two pitch pitcher, throwing only two change-ups on the night. In retrospect, Archer really didn’t need to throw his change-up. And when he wasn’t getting swings and misses down in the zone, Archer got the Angels to hit weak grounders and fly-ball outs, including an Eric Aybar double play to end the sixth.
Chris began to show signs of fatigue in the seventh, ultimately allowing two base runners to reach safely while relinquishing his only run of the night. Mike Trout led off the inning by reaching first on a slow roller to short, subsequently getting moved to second on a hard hit single to right off the bat of Josh Hamilton. Mark Trumbo moved the runners up to second and third (respectively) on a fielder’s choice — a play which should have been an easy double play, hadn’t James Loney bobbled the ball. With runners in scoring position, Kole Calhoun plated the Angels sole run on a sac-fly to deep left-field, but Archer got Chris Nelson to ground out to short to end the inning while limiting the damage.
Joel Peralta and Fernando Rodney came on in relief, combining to post a pair of excellent 1-2-3 innings.
On the offensive end of things, the Rays weren’t nearly as bad wRISP on this fine eve. However, they still stranded seven runners on the bags, including four in scoring position. Tampa Bay struck early after David DeJesus leadoff the inning with a double, and was moved to third on a Ben Zobrist single to left. Matt Joyce followed, plating the first run on a sac-fly to left. The Rays threatened to break the game open in the bottom of the second with the bases loaded and two outs. Much to the chagrin to every Rays fan far and wide, Ben Zobrist put an end to the threat by lining out to center on the first pitch he saw.
The Rays eventually took the lead in a three-run fourth inning. Desmond Jennings and Jose Lobaton quickly reached base on a pair of back-to-back singles to center, and Yunel Escobar took a calculated risk by laying down a beautiful two-strike sacrifice bunt, moving Jennings and Lobaton up to second and third. David DeJesus gave the good guys the lead when he sent a shot off the shin of Garrett Richards for an RBI — his first as a Ray. BenZo followed with an RBI base hit to center, while Longo drove home the fourth run on an error to short, capping the Rays scoring.
The New What Next
The recently recalled Jake Odorizzi will get the start in the rubber match of the series against Jason Vargas. Note: The getaway game starts at 1:10.
Rays 8/29/13 Starting Lineup
Jennings CF
Zobrist 2B
Longoria 3B
Myers RF
Rodriguez 1B
Escobar SS
Johnson DH
Lobaton C
Fuld LF
Odorizzi RHP
Noteworthiness
- Archer’s averaged seven innings in his last three starts while relinquishing only four earned runs total.
- Yeah, this happened before Wednesday night’s game:
- The question begs: Does Friedman make a bullpen move for the stretch, now that Crain is reportedly no closer to pitching for the Rays?
- Per Roger Mooney of the Trib, “Maddon said he has seen video of DH Delmon Young batting for Double-A Montgomery and said he looked good. Young is expected to join the Rays on Sunday. … DH Luke Scott began a minor-league rehab assignment Tuesday in Durham.”